Tuesday, 27 April 2010

The lining out went remarkably well. I'd not been looking forward to it, but the Modelmaster waterslide transfers turned out to be one of the best fivers I've spent in a long while. I found it surprisingly easy to get a good finish and an accurate register at the joins. Once dry I wafted over with a blast of Testors Dulcote, and fixed the builders plates in place with Araldite. Job done I think, though I will have to provide a crew so that it doesn't look weird when circling round Chwarel Bach.

Friday, 9 April 2010

It won't look quite so green when I've finished, well I hope it won't.

I found that the hardest decision was what colour paint to slap on. With my so called finescale EM models it's easy as I just copy photos of the real thing, but what do I do when confronted with a fictitious loco that will run on a fictitious line purporting to be owned by a fictitious company? As I have a notion that the new layout will be set before the war to end all wars, I sought for something that would hint at Victorian opulence or Edwardian sophistication. My late father in law came to the rescue, one of his old books contained a selection of colour paintings of British locomotives, the majority showing the glory of pre-grouping colour. In the end it was the North Eastern livery that appealed to me most, hence the vibrant green. Once the lining is applied I'll tone down the loco, trying for a cared for but hard worked look.